Unable to erase the secondary hard drive.
Unable to erase the secondary hard drive.
You're facing a common issue when trying to wipe a drive after a Windows installation. The error message suggests the system is still using files from the drive, even though you think it's clean. Since no other accounts are running and only the C-Drive is active, the problem likely lies in the drive itself or its partition settings.
To resolve this, try these steps:
1. **Check Disk Management**
- Press `Win + X` and select **Disk Management**.
- Locate your M.2 NVMe drive, right-click it, and choose **Format**.
- If the format button is grayed out, ensure you're using the correct partition and that the drive is recognized.
2. **Use Disk Partition Manager (if available)**
- Open **Disk Management** again.
- Right-click your M.2 drive → **Manage Partitions**.
- If it appears as a volume, right-click it → **Format**.
- Confirm the format options and ensure no other partitions are using the same drive.
3. **Run Disk Cleanup**
- Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
- Type `diskpart` and press Enter.
- Select your disk, then run `clean` to remove temporary files.
- After cleanup, try formatting again.
4. **Check for Hidden Files or System Files**
- Use the **Command Prompt** with `sfc /scannow` to scan for system corruption.
- If issues are found, run the repair command.
5. **Verify Drive Health**
- Run a disk check via **System Properties → Advanced → Storage**.
- Ensure no errors are reported before attempting a format.
If the drive still shows as in use after these steps, it may be corrupted or have residual data. In that case, consider using a third-party tool like **BleachBit** or **CCleaner** to clean the drive before formatting.
The simplest approach I see is building a Linux bootable USB with Ventoy or Rufus, then formatting it. Manjaro, Ubuntu or Fedora should all function properly, but make sure no other files are using it to avoid damaging your Windows system. A bootable pendrive is also useful for troubleshooting; Ventoy lets you store multiple ISO images on the same drive, which means you can keep a Windows ISO handy if you need to reinstall or fix Windows later.
Launch the Windows setup and press Shift + F10 to launch the Command Prompt. Use "diskpart" and "list disk" to determine the secondary drive based on its capacity. Enter "select disk X" (replace X with the number found earlier) to choose that disk and "clean" to remove all partitions. Afterward, restart and set up a fresh partition when you boot again.
The presence of both an EFI partition and a Recovery Partition suggests additional system components are configured, but it's unclear if they're linked to your primary SSD. The absence of a recovery partition on the main SSD doesn't necessarily indicate a problem unless you need one for troubleshooting.